What goes in must come out?

What is the fate of the volatiles that are stored in trench sediments, igneous crust and hydrated lithospheric mantle and that are transported into a subduction zone? G&G Marie Curie Research Fellow Jacob Geersen has been involved in recently published research, that constrains and compare the input and output fluxes of water, chlorine and sulfur into the Central Chilean… Read More What goes in must come out?

Off-rift volcanism in rift zones determined by crustal unloading, new paper in nature Geoscience

Volcanoes commonly form on the flanks of young continental rifts, whereas in more evolved rifts the volcanism is more commonly in the rift centre. Derek Keir, Lecturer in Earth Science from the Geology and Geophysics research Group, contributed to a team that modelled the stress field below rift grabens of varying width and depth caused… Read More Off-rift volcanism in rift zones determined by crustal unloading, new paper in nature Geoscience

Megathrust earthquakes and submarine landslides

The question whether each megathrust earthquake necessarily and instantaneously triggers submarine mass-movement has been intensively discussed in the wake of the giant earthquakes that occurred over the last decade. Whereas the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake (Japan) caused failure of parts of the lowermost continental slope, no similar evidence was found after the 2010 Maule earthquake (Central… Read More Megathrust earthquakes and submarine landslides

An automated tool for grain size analysis from sediment profile imagery

Acquiring physical properties of the seabed is important for understanding sediment transport and resuspension processes and for monitoring the changing health of benthic ecosystems. Increasingly sediment profile imagery (SPI), a rapid, in-situ technique is used in conjunction with grabs and cores to obtain these properties. SPI is an inverted periscope that penetrates the seabed and… Read More An automated tool for grain size analysis from sediment profile imagery

OES to host British Geophysical Association Postgraduate Research in Progress Meeting 2015

We are pleased to announce that University of Southampton/NOCS has been chosen to host the BGA (British Geophysical Association) Postgraduate Research in Progress Meeting 2015.  The conference is an ideal opportunity for postgraduate students (geophysics) to network with other students from around the UK and to present their research in a supportive environment. The conference… Read More OES to host British Geophysical Association Postgraduate Research in Progress Meeting 2015

Southampton undergraduates at AAPG Imperial Barrel Award

This year’s AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) Imperial Barrel Award team (Alice Wenborn, Suzanne Millis, Sam Bunnett, Ben James and Chris Wilkinson) were placed 5th in the European Regional Competition in Prague. In an extremely closely fought competition featuring 26 teams from throughout Europe, they were the highest ranking UG team, beaten only by… Read More Southampton undergraduates at AAPG Imperial Barrel Award

Rip current research attracts funding from the Royal Geographical Society

Geology and Geophysics PhD student Seb Pitman has been awarded a postgraduate research award from the Royal Geographical Society. The RGS offers two awards per annum in each of the following disciplines: physical environment; conservation/sustainability; and society/economy. The awards aim to help PhD students establish themselves in their particular field, and are preferentially awarded to… Read More Rip current research attracts funding from the Royal Geographical Society

Southampton positioned 30 in the world rankings for Earth and Marine Sciences

The 2014 QS World University Rankings have been published recently and University of Southampton rose 8 places to 30th in the Earth and Environmental Science category.  University of Southampton is now ranked 30 in the world for Earth and Marine Sciences and 9th in Europe in this year’s QS World University Rankings by subject. This is… Read More Southampton positioned 30 in the world rankings for Earth and Marine Sciences

Fine-scale gas distribution in marine sediments assessed from deep-towed seismic data

Stephan Ker from Ifremer (the French national institute for marine research) and co-authors including  Graham Westbrook and Tim Minshull from G&G have published a paper in Geophysical Journal International that uses novel deep-towed seismic data and a novel technique to infer the detailed properties of gas pockets in marine sediments.  The seismic data were collected… Read More Fine-scale gas distribution in marine sediments assessed from deep-towed seismic data

Deep-water continental margins: Geological and economic frontiers

Tiago Alves from Cardiff University, with three co-convenors including Tim Minshull from G&G, have published an introductory paper in the recent special volume of Basin Research that includes some of the work originally presented at a Geological Society conference in October 2012.  The paper summarises the contents of the volume, which cover the measurement of… Read More Deep-water continental margins: Geological and economic frontiers